Ekanamsha

Ekanamsha (Sanskrit: एकानंशा, Ekānaṁśā) is a Hindu goddesss, identified with Durga. In Sanskrit, Ekanamsha means "the single, portionless one" and it is a name of the new moon.[1] The Matsya Purana (LX.17) describes Ekanamsha as a dark variant of Uma.[2] According to S. C. Mukherji, a modern scholar, in the Harivamsa, Ekanamsha is identified as a shakti of Vishnu, she descended as the daughter of Nanda to protect the baby Krishna from Kamsa.[3] According to the Harivamsa (II.4.37-41), she was worshipped by the Vrishnis.[4] Many "kinship triads", depicting Vasudeva Krishna, Balarama and their sister Ekanamsha have been found in the Mathura region, which are stylistically dated to the early centuries of the Common era.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Hawley, John Stratton and Donna Marie Wolf (1986) (ed.) The Divine Consort: Rādhā and the Goddesses of India, Boston: Beacon Press, ISBN 0-8070-1303-X, p.372
  2. ↑ Bhattacharji, Sukumari (2000). The Indian Theogony: Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, New Delhi: Penguin, ISBN 0-14-029570-4, p.89
  3. ↑ Hudson, Dennis (1986) Piņņai, Krishna's Cowherd Wife in John Stratton Hawley and Donna Marie Wolf ed. The Divine Consort: Rādhā and the Goddesses of India, Boston: Beacon Press, ISBN 0-8070-1303-X, p.256
  4. ↑ Bhattacharji, Sukumari (2000). The Indian Theogony: Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, New Delhi: Penguin, ISBN 0-14-029570-4, p.173
  5. ↑ Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Delhi: Pearson Education. pp. 436–7. ISBN 978-81-317-1677-9.